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Conflict Resolution

Conflict Resolution - Winning With Difficult People - Personality Styles - DISC Why are some people, be they friends, clients, family or co-workers, so difficult to deal with? How can I talk to them without getting mad? What, if anything, did I do to create a tense situation and cause them to lose control? The reality is we all have difficult people in our lives. Professionally, they are clients or colleagues, or our boss. Personally, they can be people we live with or gave birth to! People become difficult for a variety of reasons – some of them justifiable. Perhaps their needs are not being met, or they have experienced poor communication or service. Perhaps the culprit is the lack of authority to deal with the problem, and they resent having to always defer to someone else. Some people are quick to anger and take their frustrations out on the nearest person they perceive as lower in status than themselves. And, we let them. Worse yet, we react negatively by taking their anger personally. We get angry right back at them, and "fire the client" by being difficult ourselves. In other words, we have successfully become the problem. There are two primary types of conflict. One is performance-based. This type of situation is caused when a person's work performance -- whether it's an issue of quantity or quality -- is not meeting expectations. It creates stress and problems for everyone. The second type of conflict is relationship-based. You don't get along with the client or business associate for various reasons, but particularly because the other person's behavior and personality clash with your preferred communication style. In your opinion, they might be overly aggressive or demanding, too detail orientated, or just slow to respond. Ironing things out When you find yourself in a tense situation, one solution is by "results management." You should work to become very clear about what the problem seems to be, write it down, and work on creating constructive win-win solutions. The fact is that we have choices ranging from doing nothing and continuing to feel guilty about possibly causing the situation, to changing our attitudes about the other person and the event. Our attitudes can range from, "That's just the way they are and I can live with it because it's not about me," to a full-blown decision to resolve the situation once and for all! If you decide to try to iron out the situation, you will have to meet or talk with the other person. When you do so, seek to understand them and ask lots of questions. Also, keep these strategies in mind: * Focus on what happened, not who caused it.

* Assume a positive intent by them (it may just be that their personality style does not allow them to communicate effectively). * Let them know your positive intent -- you want to find a solution. * Reinforce what your shared goals are. As the client, their goal is what they hired you for; yours is to create and deliver the service. * Set a time frame for solving a problem when it arises; let nothing stay unresolved. Conflicts are best handled within 48 hours. Remember how bad you felt the last time you had a difficult situation and then how good you felt when it was resolved quickly? * Resolve to learn from the situation and share your findings with everyone involved so it does not happen again. * Both parties should commit to changing the cycle of conflict. This might mean more frequent communication until trust is re-established. Remember, everybody is different in how they manage others and in their expectations for how they in turn are managed and supported. You must have different solutions to every situation. As Abraham Maslow said, "If the only tool is a hammer, you treat everything like a nail." This article suggests several tools, but the best tool is having great communication and clarity every step of the way. A final reminder: there are two main sources of difficult behavior – the other person, or you. Make certain you are not...

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...Conflict will always exist when a group or team is composed with different people with different approaches and ideas with dealing with situations. Learning to work together with dealing with conflict can and will provide your group or team with a quick resolution. Conflict can not be avoided and is inevitable in letting a team develop and provide a constructive and possibly beneficial outcome in managing the conflict.
When we generally think of conflict it is a very negative thought about the team member. Usually there is arguing, yelling or disagreeing which can make others feel uncomfortable. Learning how to deal and handle these disagreements constructively will usually improve the productivity and create new ideas and help develop personality of other in the team. Each team will go through stages of growth and development. “Team conflict can be resolved quickly and effectively and only requires one key ingredient and that is a team leader who can diagnose a team within stages of team development and choose from an array of effective team leadership skills.” (Warren, Jon) Letting the team members get to know each other in forming better a workable group with the support and direction of the leader.
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...Conflict Scenario
The conflict between the marketing department members causes Just Right Tire Company management to use effective decision making skills. With the deadline for the ad drawing near, Just Right Tire marketing managers must quickly find a solution. Therefore, the managers should expedite the decision making process. The rational decision-making model will elicit logic, intelligence, and well founded decisions (Nickel, McHugh, &amp; McHugh, 2010). The model incorporates seven steps; define the situation, describe and collect needed information, develop alternatives, develop agreement among those involved, decide which alternative is best, and determine whether the decision was a good one and follow up (Nickels, McHugh, &amp; McHugh, 2010).
In following the steps, eliminating steps that are irrelevant, the managers can develop a solution. The situation explains that the marketing department is no longer collaborating on an important project. The three members cannot decide on an ad visual causing the team to disband. An alternative solution is to have the manager decide which visuals to combine for the final product. This resolves the disagreement between members because the choice was taken leaving no conflict. The Just Right Tire marketing team can now meet the deadline.
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MANAGEMENT OF CONFLICT, CULTURE AND CHANGE
By: Sir Wilson Marotse Mulei1
What exactly is culture? Unfortunately a fixed, universal understanding does not exist; there is little consensus within, let alone, across disciplines. Often “culture” is applied so broadly, merely as “social pattern,” that it means very little. Highly specific, idiosyncratic definitions also abound where the term is used in various contexts in support of any agenda.
When “culture” first appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary around 1430 it meant “cultivation” or “tending the soil,” based on the Latin culture. Into the 19th century “culture” was associated with the phrase “high culture,” meaning the cultivation or “refinement of mind, taste, and manners.” This generally held to the mid-20th century when its meaning shifted toward its present American Heritage English Dictionary definition: “The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.”
Culture thus consists of group norms of behavior and the underlying shared values that help keep those norms in place.
One of the primary characteristics of human life, over animal life, is that we assign symbolic meaning to ideas, behavior, and objects, as well as have language and speech. We say that humans have culture while animals do not. This is largely due to their inability to ascribe arbitrary symbolic meaning to their world—a chimpanzee could not...

...Introduction
Everyone faces conflict in their lives on a daily basis. It is an accepted and expected part of life. Conflict is not a problem in itself - it is what we do with it that counts. You can't avoid conflict in your life, at home, at work, and even at play. Wherever people interact, there is a potential for conflict. That is not bad news because good things can arise, and relationships can improve through conflict, provided conflict is managed with thought and attention. The bad news is that most of us are fairly limited in how we manage and resolve conflict situations, often throwing gasoline on the fire. It doesn't have to be that way.
Objectives
At the end of the report, the graduate students will be able to:
1. Define Conflict and ConflictResolution.
2. Name the 4 basic categories of ConflictResolution.
3. Give at least 3 out of 11 strategies of conflictresolution.
Conflict among Nurses
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...learner can:
1. Understand the principles of conflict management appropriate to their role
1.1 State the importance of positive and constructive communication to avoid conflict
1.2 Identify the importance of employer policies, guidance and procedures relating to workplace violence.
1.3 Identify factors that can trigger an angry response in others
1.4 Identify factors that can inhibit an angry response in others
1.5 Identify how managing customer expectations can reduce the risk of conflict
1.6 Identify human responses to emotional and threatening situations
2. Understand how to recognise, assess and reduce risk in conflict situations
2.1 Identify the stages of escalation in conflict situations
2.2 Explain how to apply dynamic risk assessment to a conflict situation
3. Understand how to communicate effectively in emotive situations
and de-escalate conflict 3.1 State how to use non-verbal communication in emotive situations
3.2 Identify how to overcome communication barriers
3.3 Identify the differences between assertiveness and aggression
3.4 Identify ways of defusing emotive conflict situations 27
3.5 Identify appropriate approaches to take when confronting unacceptable behaviour
3.6 Identify how to work with colleagues to deescalate conflict situations
3.7 State the importance of positioning and exit routes...

...﻿
Leading and Managing ConflictResolutionConflict is created from differences between individuals, institutions or even countries. It usually happens when people disagree over desires,ideas, motivations, or values. Sometimes the extent of these differences can ignite a fire that points to an underlying source of the real issue. These issues can be needs that were not met earlier and triggers a sense of disconnect or lack of value for that individual. Everyone needs to feel a sense of security, support, respect, and valued. When these needs or others are being threatened then there is a likelihood of conflict arising between the individual who threatens the need and the individual who is feels threatened. It is absolutely necessary for personal and professional relationships to utilize a method of conflictresolution that can aid in the process of disagreements. Leaders should have a consistent but effective method they use for conflicts in the workplace. A method helps to have structure, hold each employee responsible, and allows the leader to go through each step to ensure the conflict does not recur.
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...Management 5000
2012
Managing Team Conflict
FINAL PAPER
management 5000
Table of Contents
* Describe the nature of conflict in teams
* Define types of conflict and describe how each manifests in a team
* Identify reasons why team members struggle with conflict
* Describe how a team leader can manage conflict within the team
* Summarize my key learning, with recommendation for an intervention that may work in a group conflict situation
Introduction
It is commonplace for organizations today to work in teams. Whether they be leader-driven teams or self-directed teams; the hope is that productivity, creativity, and results will be greater in a team environment. While this is a proven approach, any time you bring together people from differing backgrounds and experiences, it is inevitable that conflict will occur.
Many people and organizations view conflict as a negative, or something to be avoided. Yet conflict, differences, or disagreements are a natural result of people working together. Also, without conflict, teams can become complacent and not perform at optimum levels. The challenge then becomes, how should the team be prepared for this stage of their existence, and how should the team leader facilitate through it?
Types of Conflict
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...leader-driven teams or self-directed teams; the hope is that productivity, creativity, and results will be greater in a team environment. While this is a proven approach, any time you bring together people from differing backgrounds and experiences, it is inevitable that conflict will occur.
Many people and organizations view conflict as a negative, or something to be avoided. Yet conflict, differences, or disagreements are a natural result of people working together. Also, without conflict, teams can become complacent and not perform at optimum levels. The challenge then becomes, how should the team be prepared for this stage of their existence, and how should the project leader facilitate through it?
As mentioned above, teams are a powerful force in organizations. They are assembled to tackle complex and strategic issues within a company. Often the membership is a select group of people from different departments, each with special skills or talents to solve a particular problem. However; what is often lacking is training in the core competencies of working on a team. "In order for a team to be successful, it is essential that a project manager can identify and address the basics of conflictresolution, delegation, and consensus building" (Convey, 1994, p. 13). Without these skills, each member must rely on whatever they've learned on their own, or the...